# eSIM for Iraq Viasimo's Iraq eSIM starts at $2.29 for 500 MB over 1 day, running on Asia Cell with 4G LTE where available. Plans last 1 to 180 days, arrive by email in minutes and install from your phone's settings, with no app. Canonical page: https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/ ## Iraq eSIM prices | Plan | Data | Days | Price | Price per GB | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 500 MB, 1 day | 500 MB | 1 | $2.29 | $4.69 | | Unlimited, 3 days | Unlimited | 3 | $16.00 | - | | Unlimited, 5 days | Unlimited | 5 | $25.00 | - | | 1 GB, 7 days | 1 GB | 7 | $2.79 | $2.79 | | Unlimited, 7 days | Unlimited | 7 | $35.99 | - | | Unlimited, 10 days | Unlimited | 10 | $47.99 | - | | 3 GB, 15 days | 3 GB | 15 | $6.99 | $2.33 | | Unlimited, 15 days | Unlimited | 15 | $70.99 | - | | 3 GB, 30 days | 3 GB | 30 | $8.00 | $2.67 | | 5 GB, 30 days | 5 GB | 30 | $11.99 | $2.40 | | 10 GB, 30 days | 10 GB | 30 | $19.99 | $2.00 | | 20 GB, 30 days | 20 GB | 30 | $38.99 | $1.95 | | Unlimited, 30 days | Unlimited | 30 | $134.99 | - | | Unlimited, 60 days | Unlimited | 60 | $264.99 | - | | Unlimited, 90 days | Unlimited | 90 | $389.99 | - | | Unlimited, 180 days | Unlimited | 180 | $774.99 | - | ## Which networks does the Iraq eSIM use? - **Asia Cell**: 4G LTE Your eSIM picks one automatically; you do not choose or switch between them. The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM. Verified October 30, 2026. ## eSIM Details - **Data**: 500 MB – 20 GB or unlimited - **Validity**: 1–180 days - **Speed**: 4G LTE - **Hotspot / tethering**: Supported on most devices - **Activation**: Starts when you first connect in your destination - **Speed management**: Roughly 2-3 GB per day at full speed, sometimes less depending on the local carrier, then reduced - **Top-ups**: Add more data from your account, before the plan expires - **Text messages (SMS)**: Data only: use an app for verification codes - **Connects via**: Singapore - **Unused validity**: 180 days before it must be installed ## Iraq: what to know before you land Source: https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/#destination-guide · Researched October 2026 by Viasimo Our eSIM in Iraq uses Asiacell, which won every category in Opensignal's January 2025 Iraq report and was ahead of Zain and Korek on speed and 4G time. Before you rely on it, sort the paperwork: federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region issue separate visas, and in 2026 UK travel advice warns against travel to large parts of the country after Iranian strikes. ### Iraq: quick facts | Fact | Iraq | | --- | --- | | Emergency number | 911 (police), 122 (ambulance), 115 (fire) | | Main airports | Baghdad International Airport (BGW); Erbil International Airport (EBL); Basra International Airport (BSR) | | Plug types | Type C, D, G (230V) | | Currency | Iraqi dinar (IQD) | | Apps worth having | WhatsApp, Google Maps, Google Translate | ### Asiacell, Zain and Korek in Opensignal's Iraq report (Iraq · https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/#guide-asiacell-zain-and-korek-in-opensignal-s-iraq-report) Iraq has three national mobile operators, and the testing gap between them is wide. In [Opensignal's January 2025 Iraq report](https://insights.opensignal.com/reports/2025/01/iraq/mobile-network-experience), based on data from September to November 2024: - **Asiacell** averaged about 28 Mbps download speed, kept users connected 98% of the time and on 4G 86% of the time, and scored 6.3 out of 10 for coverage experience. It won all nine award categories outright, as it had in July 2024. - **Zain** averaged about 22 Mbps, with users on 4G about 78% of the time. - **Korek**, strongest in the Kurdistan Region, averaged about 12 Mbps and spent 72% of the time on 4G. Our eSIM connects to Asiacell on 4G LTE, so you are on the network that tested best nationally. Coverage scores across all three are modest by international standards, which matches what visitors find: good service in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, weaker between cities. Speed figures are averages. In crowded places, such as Karbala and Najaf during pilgrimages, any network slows down, so send large files at quieter times of day. ### Two visas: federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region (Iraq · https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/#guide-two-visas-federal-iraq-and-the-kurdistan-region) Iraq runs two separate entry systems, and mixing them up can end a trip at the airport. **Federal Iraq** (Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, Karbala and the south) now requires an **e-visa** from the Government of Iraq's portal, applied for at least 24 hours before travel. The UK Foreign Office lists it at **US$160**, valid for 60 days, and says visit visas are **no longer issued on arrival**. Airlines may refuse boarding without a return or onward ticket. The **Kurdistan Region** (Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok) has its own e-visa through **visit.gov.krd** and also offers visas on arrival. A Kurdistan visa is valid **only in the Kurdistan Region**, so you cannot use it to continue to Baghdad. For your phone, that means: - Apply and download both approvals while you are on home wifi. - Save the PDFs and screenshots offline; checkpoints and airline desks may ask to see them where signal is weak. - Keep copies of your passport and onward ticket in the same folder. The FCDO notes that foreign nationals have been arrested for not carrying the correct documents, so treat this paperwork as seriously as your passport. ### Where 2026 travel advice limits your route (Iraq · https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/#guide-where-2026-travel-advice-limits-your-route) Before you plan a route based on where Asiacell has signal, check where your government says you can go. As of its July 2026 update, the UK Foreign Office advises against **all travel** to: - Kirkuk, Ninawa (including Mosul) and Salah al-Din provinces - Diyala province except Baqubah city - parts of Anbar west of Ramadi - Sadr City in Baghdad and Jurf al-Sakr in Babil - within 5 km of the Iranian border in Wasit, Maysan and Basra, and within 5 km of the Saudi and Kuwaiti borders It advises against **all but essential travel** to the rest of federal Iraq, including Baghdad, Basra, Najaf and Karbala, and to the Kurdistan Region. Travelling against this advice can invalidate your travel insurance, and the FCDO says consular support is severely limited in those areas. Other governments' advice differs in detail, so read your own country's guidance. If you do travel, register with your embassy's alert service if it has one, and share your live location with someone you trust on long road journeys. ### Iranian strikes in 2026: alerts, shelter and flight disruption (Iraq · https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/#guide-iranian-strikes-in-2026-alerts-shelter-and-flight-disruption) The UK Foreign Office reports that since **8 July 2026** Iran has carried out strikes and retaliatory attacks across Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, aimed at US military and civilian infrastructure, and that further attacks are possible. Flight cancellations, airspace closures and wider travel disruption can follow with little notice. This is where mobile data matters most: - Turn on notifications in your airline's app and check flight status before leaving for Baghdad, Erbil, Basra or Najaf airport. - Follow your embassy and trusted local news for alerts. - If you are told to shelter, the FCDO advises staying indoors, ideally in an interior room with few outside walls or windows, and not touching any drone or missile fragments. Networks can slow or fail when many people try to use them at once. Keep your hotel address, embassy number and booking references saved offline, and keep a power bank charged. Iraq's emergency numbers are **911** for police, **122** for an ambulance and **115** for fire. Our eSIM is data only, so these calls need your home SIM on roaming or a local phone. ### Sources for the Iraq guide - [Iraq, January 2025, Mobile Network Experience - Opensignal](https://insights.opensignal.com/reports/2025/01/iraq/mobile-network-experience) - [Iraq - Opensignal](https://insights.opensignal.com/iraq) - [Iraq travel advice - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iraq) - [Iraq travel advice: entry requirements - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iraq/entry-requirements) - [Iraq travel advice: getting help - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iraq/getting-help) - [Voltage, frequency and plug type per country - Royal Brinkman](https://royalbrinkman.com/knowledge-center/mechanical-equipment/voltage-frequency-plug-type-per-country) ## Essential travel to Iraq: arriving, staying connected and keeping in touch Essential-travel plan (not a holiday itinerary; UK travel advice warns against travel) · 3 days · Source: https://viasimo.com/destinations/iraq/#itinerary Not a holiday plan. The UK advises against all travel to large parts of Iraq and against all but essential travel everywhere else, including Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, so this is a three-day framework for essential trips. **When to go:** There is no recommended season for leisure travel while current advice stands; if you must go, avoid June to August, when Baghdad and Basra regularly pass 45°C and power cuts are more frequent. ### Day 1 in Iraq: Arrival in Baghdad or Erbil - **Base:** Baghdad or Erbil - **Getting there:** Baghdad airport is west of the city and Erbil airport north-west of the centre; use pre-arranged transport for both. - **Plan:** Arrive at Baghdad International or Erbil International with the right visa for where you are going: the federal e-visa for Baghdad and the south, or a Kurdistan Region visa, which is valid only in the region. Have your host or security provider meet you landside, switch on the eSIM before leaving the terminal, and message your contacts that you have landed. Register with your embassy if you have not done so already. - **Mobile signal:** Asiacell 4G is generally good at both airports and across central Baghdad and Erbil. There is no 5G on this eSIM, and networks can slow badly during alerts when many people go online at once. ### Day 2 in Iraq: Working days: checkpoints, documents and alerts - **Base:** Baghdad or Erbil - **Plan:** Keep movements to what your work requires and travel with your host's or security provider's transport. Expect checkpoints on city roads, on Baghdad's airport road and at entrances to the Kurdistan Region; carry your passport, visa and any letters of invitation, with copies saved offline. Do not photograph checkpoints, security forces or government buildings, and never use a map app to take a shortcut into an area under advice against all travel, such as Sadr City. - **Mobile signal:** Asiacell's 4G is usually reliable in central districts and weaker on the edges of cities and on intercity roads. Keep your embassy's alerts switched on and check trusted local news at the start and end of each day. ### Day 3 in Iraq: Keeping in touch and leaving - **Base:** Baghdad or Erbil - **Getting there:** Pre-arranged transport to the airport; leave plenty of margin for checkpoints. - **Plan:** Check your flight status in the airline app before leaving for the airport, as strikes since July 2026 have caused short-notice cancellations and airspace closures. Allow extra time for the multiple security checks on approach to Baghdad International. Agree a check-in routine with family or your employer, such as a message at fixed times, and a fallback via SMS on your home SIM if data fails. Message them once you are through security and again after landing. - **Mobile signal:** Signal is generally good at the airports, but can drop during security screening and in airside areas. Download boarding passes before you leave your accommodation. ### Staying connected on this Iraq route - Save both visa approvals, your passport and invitation letters offline; checkpoints and airline desks may ask to see them where signal is weak. - Keep your home SIM active alongside the eSIM, which is data only, for SMS fallbacks and emergency calls on 911, 122 and 115. - Charge a power bank every night; power cuts are common and mobile sites can weaken when the grid fails. - If told to shelter, move to an interior room and use data sparingly so your messages get through on a congested network. ### Sources for the Iraq itinerary - [GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Iraq, warnings and insurance](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iraq/warnings-and-insurance) - [GOV.UK foreign travel advice: Iraq, entry requirements](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iraq/entry-requirements) - [Kurdistan Region visa portal](https://visit.gov.krd/) - [Opensignal: Iraq mobile network experience, January 2025](https://insights.opensignal.com/reports/2025/01/iraq/mobile-network-experience) ## About this eSIM Travel in Iraq is logistics heavy, and a working data connection is the single thing that makes the logistics manageable. Distances between the places most visitors want to see are long, plans shift on the day, and almost every arrangement you make with a driver, a guide or a guesthouse will happen through a messaging app rather than a website. Getting connected on arrival is less about convenience here and more about being able to run your own trip. ### Getting online when you land Baghdad, Erbil, Basra, Sulaymaniyah and Najaf all take international flights, and arrival formalities can take a while, which is useful: enable the profile as you leave the aircraft and it will have found a network by the time you are through. Do not count on being handed working airport wifi. Put the profile on your handset before you travel, while you still have a reliable connection at home. This is the step people postpone and regret, because installing an eSIM requires internet and the moment you need one most is the moment you have none. Once it is installed, allow roaming for that profile, keep your own line switched on so your usual number still takes calls, and make the eSIM the line your apps use for data. If you are crossing overland, whether from Turkey in the north or arriving by road into the Kurdistan Region, activate before the border post rather than during it. You want your phone settled and quiet while you are dealing with paperwork, not searching for a network in your pocket. ### The networks you'll be on Traffic on this profile runs over Asia Cell, which operates 4G LTE in Iraq. There is no 5G in that footprint, and honestly that is not the constraint you will notice. 4G is entirely sufficient for maps, calls over the internet, photo sharing and the endless voice notes that are the local communication default. What you will notice is load. Iraqi networks carry a lot of users through relatively few sites in the busiest districts, so speeds swing between times of day and between neighbourhoods. If a page hangs, waiting thirty seconds is usually more effective than reloading it five times. ### Where coverage holds, and where it thins Coverage is at its most reliable in the major urban centres: Baghdad across its districts, the Kurdistan Region cities of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok, and the southern hub of Basra. The pilgrimage cities of Najaf and Karbala are well built out because they routinely absorb enormous crowds, though during major pilgrimage periods the sheer number of handsets in one place will slow everything to a crawl regardless of how many masts there are. Expect that, and do not read it as a fault with your plan. The main intercity highways generally hold service, with dead stretches between towns. Beyond that, the thinning is geographic and consistent. The western desert through Anbar towards the Syrian and Jordanian borders is largely empty of both people and coverage. The mountain districts of the northeast, around Rawanduz, Amadiya, Barzan and the higher passes towards the Iranian frontier, lose signal in the valleys even where the ridgelines are fine. The southern marshes around Chibayish are sparse once you are out in a boat among the reed beds, and the desert archaeological sites of the far south, out towards Ur and Uruk, sit well away from anything dense. Buildings matter too. Thick masonry, basements and the covered sections of old bazaars will cut your signal indoors even in a city where the street outside is fully served. ### What you'll actually use data for here Messaging apps carry nearly all your practical communication. Drivers, fixers, hotel managers and site custodians will expect to reach you that way, often by voice note rather than text, and calls placed over the internet cost you nothing beyond data. If you have arranged a driver for a multi day route, that thread is your itinerary. Maps get heavy use, partly because addressing is informal and directions are given by landmark, and partly because road conditions and route choices change. Translation is the other constant: you are moving between Arabic and Kurdish depending on the region, and signage will not always meet you halfway. Beyond that, expect to be looking up opening arrangements for archaeological sites, checking whether a museum is currently open, coordinating vehicle checkpoints and paperwork with whoever is guiding you, and sending photos home to people who will ask for them. ### Before you fly Install and test the profile at home, then confirm it appears as an active line in your settings. Leave your home number live for calls and any verification messages your bank sends. Download offline maps for every city and route on your plan, not just the first. Keep printed or screenshot copies of your visa paperwork, hotel bookings and any permits or letters of invitation, because you will be asked for them in places where pulling up an email is not practical. Save your driver's and guide's numbers in your contacts, and share your route with someone at home. Carry a power bank for long road days. And confirm your phone supports eSIM before you buy anything, since an unsupported handset cannot be fixed remotely once you have arrived. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does an eSIM work in Iraq? Yes. Your Iraq eSIM connects automatically the moment you arrive, with no roaming fees and nothing to set up at the airport. The host networks it can use are Asia Cell. Coverage runs on 4G LTE. There is no 5G on our host network in Iraq yet. ### Do I get 5G in Iraq? No. Asia Cell do not yet offer 5G to visitors in Iraq, so your eSIM connects over 4G LTE or slower. Anyone claiming 5G for this destination is quoting a spec sheet, not the network you will actually get. ### Which mobile network is best in Iraq? Asiacell, on independent testing. In Opensignal's January 2025 report it averaged about 28 Mbps, against 22 Mbps for Zain and 12 Mbps for Korek, kept users on 4G 86% of the time and won all nine award categories outright. Our eSIM connects to Asiacell on 4G LTE. ### Can I get a visa on arrival in Baghdad? No. The UK Foreign Office says visit visas are no longer issued on arrival in federal Iraq. You need the government e-visa, applied for at least 24 hours before travel, which it lists at US$160 for 60 days. The Kurdistan Region still offers visas on arrival and its own e-visa, but those are valid only within the Kurdistan Region. ### Is a Kurdistan visa valid in the rest of Iraq? No. Visas issued by the Kurdistan Regional Government, whether online at visit.gov.krd or on arrival at Erbil or Sulaymaniyah, are valid only for the Kurdistan Region. To continue to Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala or Basra you need a federal Iraq e-visa as well. Save both approvals offline, as checkpoints may ask to see them. ### What are the emergency numbers in Iraq? The UK government lists 911 for police, 122 for an ambulance and 115 for fire in Iraq. Our eSIM is data only, so these calls need your home SIM on roaming or a local phone. Save the numbers before long road journeys, where coverage between cities can drop out. ### How much data do I need for 7 days in Iraq? For 7 days in Iraq, Viasimo sells 1 GB for $2.79 and unlimited data for $35.99. Our sizing recommendation, not a measurement: maps, messaging and the occasional lookup, about 1 GB a week; maps, social, photos and some browsing, about 3 to 7 GB a week. The data calculator on this site works it out from how you actually use your phone. ## Information and verification - **Prices and plans**: Every price and allowance on this page is read from the live catalog, not typed in. Verified October 30, 2026. - **Host networks**: The operator list comes from the network partner that carries this eSIM. Verified October 30, 2026.